If Israeli politics were a makeover show, the latest subject would be the country’s new defence minister. “Not everyone who criticizes Israel is an anti-Semite”, said Sable, who admonished pro-Israel advocates to “stop talking to ourselves” and instead reach out to other people not already convinced of the righteousness of Israel.
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But given the hawkish stance Lieberman has been known for, there are some observers who have trouble believing he means what he says.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government finds itself in a political arena that is being watched across the world by both friend and foe. Bringing Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party on board boosts the coalition to 66 seats. Israel says most were attackers and the rest were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
Those discussions broke down, leaving Labour Leader Isaac Herzog – as the opposition leader – feeling burned. About 200 Palestinians have been killed during that time. It should be no surprise that he militantly supports more expansions for the settlements as well as a military re-occupation of Gaza. The meeting was in support of four Palestinian rights activists who are facing trial in June for handing out information that called for the boycott of Israeli goods. “From my point of view, simply reserve yourself a plot in the nearest cemetery”.
The meeting will take place without the Israelis and Palestinians in attendance.
“When Israelis see Lieberman speaking in his slow and menacing baritone and a montage showing his alleged ties to [Uzbek Israeli metals magnate] Michael Chernoy, then a lot of viewers will think this is a local version of [the fictional television mob family] the Sopranos, ” said Dimi Reider, a London-based fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
Netanyahu had also said that an Arab League-endorsed peace initiative dating to 2002 “includes positive elements that can help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians”.
Abbas stressed that all can happen when Israel withdraws from the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967 and accepts the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on these territories with East Jerusalem as its capital, adding: “We work together to make the peace that the Israeli people want”.
Neither Israel nor the Palestinians will be represented in Paris at Friday’s talks, which aim to lay the ground for a fully-fledged peace conference to be held by the end of the year. Efforts are underway by France, and more recently Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, to try to get the Israelis and Palestinians talking again. She said the Palestinians had urinated on her and called her racial slurs.
Mladenov said the comments were particularly concerning as they came “a day after encouraging signs by the prime minister”. “This government needs to be brought down before it brings all of us down”.
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Given his replacement’s intemperate pronouncements, it’s doubtful whether Lieberman shares that commitment, or whether Netanyahu’s new cabinet can heal the breach exposed by Yaalon’s departure.
